President Andrew Jackson
More commonly known among the states as "Tennessee's General" He actually preferred it when people called him "General" even when he was President. -The ultimate BAMF of American Presidents. Pretty much lived his whole life balls out. -Very important figure in early American history. It's because of him the Democratic party exists (although it was very different back then) and he basically redefined a lot of American politics. -The symbol for the Democratic party is a donkey because political opponents called Jackson "Jackass" and he thought it was funny. So he owned the insult. -Tempermental and harsh. Never forgets a grudge. Capable of extreme prejudice and cruelty, but great kindness as well. His personality is like a paradox, it seems... (It's kind of hard to define his sense of racism because he does a lot of contradictory things... Over all, he seems to be way nicer to blacks than natives.) -Lead Tennessee, Georgia and Mississippi against the Creeks to rescue Alabama then went to protect Louisiana during the War of 1812. Mostly with the Tennessee militia, though. -When South Carolina first threatened to secede over a tariff, Jackson intimidated her into backing down. (Although he did compromise somewhat. More details later, but this tariff is a huge deal.) -Was almost killed by a crazy man, but both of the crazy man's pistol's failed. Later it was discovered that the pistols worked just fine and there was no logical reason why they didn't fire. (lol Jackson stared down two bullets!) -Had a scar across his forehead and left hand. When he was 13 and was captured by the British in the Revolutionary War, he refused to shine the man's shoes and was slashed with a sword. He was the only member of his family to survive the Revolutionary War. Some say that's when he turned into such a harsh man. -Legend has it that Jackson was actually the one who suggested the name "Tennessee" when the Southwest Territory was being organized into a proper state. -Jackson is supposedly responsible for the phrase "O.K." being used in America. He was a terrible speller and would write "Oll Korrect" <-- or some bastardization of "All Correct" on documents. It got annoying to write that over and over again, so he shortened it to O.K. and it caught on for some reason. -He and John Sevier used to bicker all the time and almost dueled each other on a few occasions. -The love of his life was Rachel Donelson. Eloped with her knowing that she was still married to another man (although he pretended not to have known later. This wasn't such a big deal on the fronteir, but his political opponents relentlessly attacked him for it when he ran for presidency.) He blamed her weakening health and eventual death on those who had caused her grief by insulting her just to get to him. During his old age, he would go out everyday to stand by her grave and talk to her for at least 30 minutes. (super sad!) -Frequently worried over his farm while in the White House and would scold his son, Junior, for being wasteful while he took care of it. (lol Tennesseans and their farms...) -Oversaw the Aroostook Wars between Maine and New Brunswick. Asked the Netherlands to be the abitrator of the situation. Maine rejected the Netherlands' decision on the grounds that Belgium's independence made his King of no importance. Jackson warned Maine not to do anything about the border and leave it to America's negotiations with Britain. (Ironically, in the end, the border Maine got wasn't much different from the first one she rejected.) -Battled with the banks. I need a certain someone to fill in this little tidbit. -At his funeral they brought his pet parrot, but had to remove it because it wouldn't stop swearing. -Jackson's influence over Tennessee was only truly broken when he made the mistake of attacking TN Senator Hugh Lawson White for opposing Jackson's chosen successor, Van Buren. Tennessee respected and admired Jackson, but he also adored White and reacted protectively to his senator coming under fire. Tennessee shuned Van Buren and voted for White instead (Georgia also voted for White) From then on (well, until after Reconstruction Era) Tennessee was an incredably unpredictable swing state. *Note that TN never liked Van Buren and always felt he had only sided with Jackson to gain power and TN thought he had decieved Jackson in order to get Old Hickory's favor. (Part of why White gained TN's favor in the election was because he made sure to only openly oppose Van Buren, not Jackson. Even if TN wasn't totally pleased with Jackson at the time, it was still considered political suicide to openly go against him in the state.) Notes on Indian Removal -Jackson and his successor (Martin Van Buren) are the ones who enforced the Indian Removal, but it wasn't originally Jackson's brain child. Technically it was Thomas Jefferson who made a deal with Georgia that if the state gave up its rights to its western lands then he would have the Indian Nations removed from the state. (Which was in violation of the U.S. treaties previously made with said nations.) -Jackson believed that the removal was good for the Indian Nations because no interaction between them and the states would mean there wouldn't be any conflict. (So... to stop whites from violating their lands he was just going to steal their land and make them move? What?) Category:Other